Today I drove from Joe's bridge to Valkenswaard. A short drive really. The fact that it took the Brits so long to reach Valkenswaard is testimony to the severity of the fighting and the fact that the way to Valkenswaard from here is in fact a real corridor, a funnel even. The start is in Groote Barrier

I wanted to take a picture of the objective near De Kolonie, but I didn't dare. A couple of days ago 28 children from exactly this town lost their lives in a horrific bus accident in Switzerland. Their school happens to be right there and it was a gathering place of mourning parents today. It was very crowded with people and I found it very disrespectful to start photographing there. A real tragedy. A little further it was a lot quieter. The Kolonie objective looks about like this today.

German perspective, treeline. The road is about 100 metres to the left. This place reminds me of the scene in a bridge too far where the dug-in Germans see the artillery wall of fire coming right at them, but remain in position. 'Abwarten'

yes Ramses, thanks for the tour. And I agree, a couple of those shots actually reminded me of scenes from A Bridge Too Far (one of my favorite WWII movies by the way).

Thanks rick

Great photos..

Tut tut, bridge to far the best movie?? Cross of Iron I'm afraid, followed by Thin red Line (even though the Pacific doesn't interest me the cinematography is amazing)

A Bridge too far was a very accurate movie and I agree that it is among the very best war movies. I do agree that many believe that Cross of Iron was the best - although some would put Stalingrad first. You have a right to your opinion, but Thin Red Line rates nowhere near the top in my book.

C'mon guys. A Bridge Too Far does track the book accurately and is historically true. But as a movie, as cinema, it sucks big time. In fact, it is uncanny how a movie containing so much star power can be so bad (on second thought, maybe it's a question of a star too many.) Bad, very bad cinema.

For those interested, I visited the corridor near Veghel in 2004. Unfortunately a new industry park was planned at the spot where the Germans cut the corridor and held it for a day, so I'm not sure if it even looks the same today as it did in 2004. We also were lucky enough to talk to some locals who had family here that lived through the fighting. Both the German and the 101st AB foxholes were still there.

Stalingrad was a superb movie ruined by the dubbing into english, I think they used the seem voice actors that dub manga movies! (though still loved it). I'd really liked to watch it with subtitles.

I've heard a fair few people who hated Thin red Line..not sure why..the cinematography was amazing, the battle scenes were well done aswell. Might not show the Marines as invincible fighting machines however I think it was more realistic it being Guadalcanal near the start of the campaign.

Another great film of recent years was Downfall. Then we have Europa Europa. A recent Russian film about Brest "The Fortress" was good, though as usual with Russian films the Germans are shown as inept fools. When Trumpets Fade is an overlooked gem. Not WW 2 but a film well ahead of it's time as far a battle sequences go was Paths of Glory directed by Kubrick.

For those interested, I visited the corridor near Veghel in 2004. Unfortunately a new industry park was planned at the spot where the Germans cut the corridor and held it for a day, so I'm not sure if it even looks the same today as it did in 2004. We also were lucky enough to talk to some locals who had family here that lived through the fighting. Both the German and the 101st AB foxholes were still there.

Thanks Huib, another nice set of photos. give a good sense of the kind of undrgrowth the woods had in a number of those.

For those interested, I visited the corridor near Veghel in 2004. Unfortunately a new industry park was planned at the spot where the Germans cut the corridor and held it for a day, so I'm not sure if it even looks the same today as it did in 2004. We also were lucky enough to talk to some locals who had family here that lived through the fighting. Both the German and the 101st AB foxholes were still there.